Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)

When I first saw Kung Fu Panda in 2008, I honestly was not too enchanted with it. Granted, I was ten years old then, and had a simpler mind with less appreciation for cinema. One day, I will re-watch it, find out my mistake probably, and enjoy it like everybody else on the planet. But now, I am watching the sequel, Kung Fu Panda 2. Even though it is on the top 10 highest grossing films of 2011 list, and it is on many peoples’ top 10 list of 2011 (not mine), I always felt that the movie seemed almost under-the-radar, since it was released the same day as the mega-hit The Hangover Part II and the dramatic smash The Tree of Life. Even though it is one of those movies that just seems like something is off with its release and marketing, Kung Fu panda 2 is a movie I really enjoyed, if not loved. Featuring the voices of Jack Black as Po and Angelina Jolie, Seth Rogen, Jackie Chan, David Cross, and Lucy Liu as the Furious Five, this movie has the six heroes fighting against a horrific villain (Gary Oldman), who plans to wipe out Kung Fu for good, while we have the shocking discovery that Po’s father, the goose, is actually not his real father GASP! And with the entire tongue-in-cheek of this scenario, it is actually handled quite sweetly, with character development and drama usually found in few animated movies, and even fewer movies for children. That, along with some truly spectacular action scenes and some very funny jokes, make Kung Fu Panda 2 a truly great family movie, and probably the best non-PIXAR animated movie since Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.
8.5/10